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Thomas Tuchel is sitting on a suitcase, but he is staying in Munich
Photo:
Angelika Warmuth / REUTERS
Munich Freedom:
It's been a turbulent week for Bayern - even by the standards of this successful but also scandal-proven club.
After defeats against Leverkusen, Lazio and Bochum, the club announced on Wednesday that it would be parting ways with coach Thomas Tuchel at the end of the season.
The hope is to save the season now in peace, or with “freedom” in his decisions, as Tuchel said before the game on Sky.
The Münchner Freiheit, the older ones will remember the music band founded in 1980.
The first test of the new freedom was RB Leipzig on the 23rd Bundesliga matchday.
Those from Leipzig who won the Supercup against Bayern 3-0 in the first competitive game of the season and in doing so revealed the first cracks in the relationship with Tuchel's team.
The result:
This time Bayern won 2-1 (0-0), in front of the English national coach Gareth Southgate, Harry Kane became the match winner with two goals (56th minute/90th+1).
As long as you can still live your dreams:
After the impending separation from Tuchel, SPIEGEL wrote about a bang that should bring calm.
A calmness that, in the best case scenario, makes winning the title possible.
However, with the league still eight points behind league leaders Bayer Leverkusen, defending their title in the Bundesliga is extremely unrealistic.
That leaves the Champions League, where Bayern have to make up for the 1-0 defeat against Lazio in their home game on March 5th.
Then we would at least be in the quarter-finals, but Tuchel's team is not one of the top favorites for the time being.
Without you:
Even apart from the Tuchel separation, it was an interesting week of football.
Toni Kroos is returning to the national team, national coach Julian Nagelsmann didn't just talk about that in the SPIEGEL interview.
What does that have to do with Bayern?
The answer is: Joshua Kimmich.
Nagelsmann announced that he would rely on Kimmich as a right-back at the 2024 European Championship.
Tuchel seems to welcome this decision, he moved the self-proclaimed six Kimmich from the center of midfield against Leipzig and also moved him to the right side.
Instead, youngster Aleksandar Pavlovic played alongside Leon Goretzka in midfield.
Until we meet again:
After a minute's silence for Andreas Brehme, who died at the beginning of the week, Pavlovic often appeared ready to play and distributed the balls cleverly.
Nevertheless, the Bayern game seemed sluggish, almost boring, and there was no sign of any improvement or even a breakthrough in the first half.
The Munich team could still have taken the lead early on, but Harry Kane's subtle goal crisis ("only" three goals in the last seven competitive games) initially continued.
The Englishman failed with a free header past the well-reacting Leipzig goalkeeper Janis Blaswich (5th).
Falling in love:
Another face of the Bayern crisis is Leroy Sané.
The national player scored eight goals and prepared ten more goals in the first half of the season.
It was the best Sané in a Bayern jersey to date.
The 28-year-old hasn't scored yet this year, which is why he currently seems almost as annoyed as his coach.
Against Leipzig, Sané missed the 1-0 lead before the break after a dream pass from Jamal Musiala because Blaswich narrowed the angle by cleverly sliding in (34').
A little later he stood in Kane's way as he aimed for the far corner and shot at Sané (43').
There is no next time (or is there?):
Despite all the talk of crisis surrounding Bayern, there is also a lot at stake for RB Leipzig at the moment.
Coach Marco Rose's team was eliminated early in the cup, and the same fate threatens to happen in the Champions League after a 1-0 home defeat against Real Madrid.
This makes everyday life in the Bundesliga all the more important, but after only two wins from six games in 2024, the threat of Europe rather than the Champions League is more likely for the coming season.
In the first half, Leipzig played like so many opponents in Munich do: cautious, waiting, with little confidence in the offensive.
That changed after the break, but in the end there was another bankruptcy.
Rasenballsport remains in fifth place and could slip four points behind Dortmund if BVB wins against Hoffenheim.
A thousand times you:
After the break, Bayern's 1,000th home game in the Bundesliga became livelier, which was initially mainly due to Leipzig.
But in his 508th competitive game for Bayern, it was goalkeeper Manuel Neuer who initially kept Bayern in the game.
In the middle of this pressure phase, Kane struck for the first time, completing a counterattack with a well-placed shot into the right corner.
That didn't bring any security into Bayern's game; Neuer initially saved the lead with a brilliant save against Benjamin Sesko (61').
Ten minutes later the Slovenian was lucky when his harmless shot was deflected into his own goal by Goretzka.
Just let it happen:
When the game was heading towards a draw in the final phase, it was Kane again who used his personal freedom in the Leipzig penalty area to score his 27th goal of the season.
Substitute Eric-Maxim Choupo-Moting made a clever save and the 30-year-old showed once again why he is one of the best goalscorers in the world.
He looks so relaxed in front of the opponent's goal, calmly pushing the ball into the right corner.